Nigeria’s Vice President, Mr. Yemi Osinbajo, disclosed on Wednesday that the President Muhammadu government will not be importing food to implement its School feeding programme.

Mr. Osinbajo was speaking in Abuja when he received a delegation of the World Food Programme led by its Executive Director, Ms. Ertharin Cousin.

The Vice President said the home-grown school feeding programme, through which primary school pupils are expected to receive one meal a day, will “energise the agriculture base in the state, so that the farmers can benefit.”

Ruling out the importation of food stuff, the Vice President noted that the programme will also create jobs, not only for farmers, but caterers and the entire value-chain would be beneficial to the local communities.

He said the school feeding programme had already started in some states and the impact was being felt, with well-fed students, rise in school enrollment and energised agricultural economies. It was not clear which states Mr. Osinbajo was referring to.

He said the Federal Government will partner with the World Food Programme, a UN agency, in the implementation of the feeding programmes.

According to him, “it will be very helpful to look at your best practices, so that we are sure we are on course.”

Vice President Osinbajo emphasised the importance of such partnership because “nutrition is important for school children at that tender age”.

The leader of the delegation, Ertharin Cousin commended the efforts of the Buhari administration in addressing the plight of IDPs in the North East, said a statement by spokesman to the Vice President Mr. Laolu Akande.